RANDOLPH – Orange County Residents had the opportunity to hear from the two Democrats vying for Orange County Sheriff at a meet-the-candidates event on Thursday evening at town hall ahead of the August 11 primary.
Taking questions from an audience of eight Orange County residents, the two candidates, Sean McRae and Michael Tkac, discussed their visions for the future of the department, including improvements in bookkeeping, accountability and approachability.
“I hope to make the sheriff’s office … something that people can depend on a lot more than its current state,” said McRae, a Bethel resident and part-time Royalton police officer with seven years of law enforcement experience.
Tkac, a Corinth resident and former detective sergeant at the Hartford Police Department who has worked in law enforcement for over forty years, is seeking to fill gaps in policing services across the county.
“There is a disconnect between what law enforcement was offering and what the residents wanted,” he said.
The two candidates addressed the challenges faced during the tenure of current Sheriff George Contois, a Democrat who defeated longtime Sheriff Bill Bohnyak in the 2022 election, inheriting a woeful financial state and a mass exodus of staff, previously reported by VTDigger.
Contois did not file for reelection this year.
Merradee Lyons, a Randolph resident, said she doesn’t “really feel like there is a sheriff’s department.”
“I don’t really see them as having a presence,” she said. “I think we need somebody with the leadership qualities to build something and feel responsible to the citizens of the county.”
McRae, if elected, plans to implement a 100-day plan focused on increased foot patrols and community policing, fostering relationships with local, municipal and state agencies and expanding social media practices for greater transparency.
When asked specifically by a member of the audience about his leadership experience, McRae stated that though he is a level two certified officer – as constitutional officers, sheriffs in Vermont are not required to have full or any law enforcement credentials. McRae has held a variety of positions in public safety, including as an administrative assistant with the Royalton Police Department, a fire marshal with the state and an EMT, further noting that he served on the board of directors of First Branch Ambulance.
Reva Seybolt, of Vershire, said she voted for Contois, but is recognizing the “really difficult situation” the department is in, and is now “pray(ing) for new leadership and their ability to move forward.”
In terms of leadership experience, Tkac told the audience that over the course of his 40 years in law enforcement, he worked his way up the ladder, holding positions of officer, patrol sergeant, detective and detective sergeant.
Both candidates discussed issues surrounding police staffing shortages in Vermont.
The Vermont Criminal Justice Council was unable to provide staffing statistics on Friday. Adam Silverman, spokesperson with Vermont State Police, stated in an email to the Valley News that “we have an authorized strength of 316 sworn troopers, and there are currently 54 vacancies.”
When Contois took over the Orange County Sheriff’s Department after the last election, 17 of 21 deputies quit in the transition.
On staff retention and recruitment, Tkac, who said he had 15 officers working under him as a sergeant and 30 staff members while working in support services, said “if you take care of your people, they’ll take care of you.”
Discussing coordination efforts among state and local agencies and municipalities, McRae and Tkac expressed a shared goal of bolstering regionalized policing, praising the Windham County Law Enforcement Governance Council, a regional governance model intended to help participating towns without police departments plan, fund and deliver law enforcement and public safety services.
When asked by Jessamyn West, of Randolph Village, about cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Tkac and McRae cited the Vermont Criminal Justice Council’s Fair and Impartial Policing policy, which states, “personal characteristics or citizenship or immigration status should have no adverse bearing on an agency’s interactions with an individual.”
“Enforcement of civil immigration law is a federal responsibility, and agencies should not engage in such enforcement except as otherwise outlined in this policy,” the policy goes on to say.
“How do you feel about it?” West asked.
“It is what it is,” Tkac said. “It needs to be followed. We do not enforce civil law.”
The police response depends on the nature of the crime, he said.
“If somebody just committed a violent assault, and they came here three days ago, the problem is, are they going to be here three days from now?” Tkac said. “That’s a situation where you call ICE.”
McRae agreed that as agency head, his job would be to see that his deputies follow the statewide policy.
“There are rules and restrictions on how we cooperate, where we cooperate, if we cooperate with (ICE),” he said. “We want any victim of any crime to feel comfortable coming forward and hopefully that policy will do its job in that aspect.”
The Democratic candidate who advances past the August 11 primary will face the lone Republican candidate, Jacob Held, a corporal with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, in the General Election on November 3.
